When you think of summer break, do you think of hot days enjoying ice cream, water fun and camping? The summer can offer a break from the school routine, laid back transitions and lots of outdoor fun to be had. Sometimes, summer break doesn't feel like a break for foster families.The summer dynamics in a foster home can be loaded with emotions, disregulated children, too much or not enough to do. Planning some DIY summertime fun is a great way YOU can take something off your foster families to do list this summer! Check out our Bucket List of 8 DIY Summer Kits. Choose one to make yourself or rally the family’s support team to make one each week!
DIY Summer Kit Bucket List
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Shauna & Scott Spoede's hearts for kids can be seen in every area of their lives. Scott is an assistant principal at a local elementary school, and Shauna taught middle school science before staying home to raise their biological children. For years the two had discussed becoming foster parents, and whether or not the time was right to step into the lives of hurting children and families while raising a young family of their own. Their foster care journey started as a kinship placement, when Scott called from school and said, “I have this boy here, can I bring him home?”. A child asked for a safe place to stay, and the Spoede’s said yes to being that place, that family for him. They’ve done the same for the eight children they’ve fostered since.
Their experience as a kinship placement for a student at school led them to walk alongside another family that was struggling. “God laid this family on our hearts and God said to me, ‘you’ve got to pop the bubble, Shauna.’ You can live your perfect life, without any hard things, OR you can step down into it like God did. “I just knew it was time. He stepped down into the world and he was calling us to step into the lives of this family. I heard him say: We need a family transformed and they need help”. Supporting your foster, kinship or adoptive family through Mother’s Day and Father’s Day can be more valuable to them then you might realize. Mother’s Day and Father’s Day can feel like heavy lifting for these parents, and here’s why: Children and youth experiencing foster care and/or adoption had and were separated from their first moms and dads. That’s traumatic.
Holidays that highlight this can trigger feelings of loss, grief, self-doubt, insecurity, anger, resentment, fear, and loneliness, Those feelings expressed as negative behaviors are challenging for parents to deal with, especially when the expectations for Mother’s Day and Father’s Day are centered on celebrating, not grieving. Your family may be experiencing angry outbursts and defiance instead of, or along with breakfast-in-bed and hand-made gifts. Sometimes foster parents are experiencing “empty arms” on Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. After caring for a child for weeks, months, sometimes even years, that child has successfully reunified with biological parents. Even as your family celebrates reunification, missing that little smile or big laugh can be heart-wrenching. Here’s a few ways you can support your family before, during, and after these holidays:
We are not your typical foster family. We stumbled upon something I now believe God was calling us to the entire time.
In May of 2020, our dear friend and former nanny called needing a safe home for herself and her 4-month-old grandson as his home wasn't an option. Hubs and I have three children and were heading out on a long camping weekend, but our friend was in a hard place having accepted immediate custody of her grandchild. We consider our friend and her daughters as family so we offered our home and time to troubleshoot the challenges when we returned from the mountains. What started as a small offer quickly became an all-in undertaking. We were our friend’s safest option and reluctantly agreed to share our home until a longer-term solution was reached so she and her grandchild could stay with people they knew. We became a kinship foster home. Aah! April! It teases us with sunshine and drenches us in precipitation (at least in a good year). We love the hope that rain and snow bring: the green, the new growth, the flowing rivers and filled-up reservoirs, all waiting for us on the other side of the puddles and drifts. Sometimes it’s hard to embrace hope in the middle of a storm.
At times, that's what being a foster or adoptive family is like. There's so much hope for growth and restoration. Simultaneously there’s trauma behaviors, uncertainty, and feelings of isolation. During a season of grief and loss, a Project 1.27 kinship parent recently shared that she didn’t need encouragement, she just needed to know people were sitting with her. This is where YOU come in as “her” support team. You don’t need all the answers, sometimes the family you're supporting just wants someone to pull up a chair and sit. It’s time for March Madness! This past year has felt like madness to many of us. In recent months, most foster families have experienced unprecedented challenges related to systems, resources, and trauma. They need support team players like YOU now more than ever! There are many players on your foster family’s team, and their social worker/case manager is an MVP (Most Valuable Player) we want to recognize in March!
March is Social Worker Appreciation Month and a great time to get involved to support and encourage the social workers in your community! Social workers are the “point guards” found in child welfare, non-profits, schools, hospitals, and businesses. Here are some fun & COVID-19 conscious ideas to show appreciation for the social workers working hard to care for the vulnerable in your community:
![]() Tim, an IT Coordinator, and his wife Liz, a career branding coach, always knew adoption would be part of their lives. After moving to Colorado, they decided to explore foster care and attended a Project 1.27 Info Night. Liz shares that her heart had been disconnected from fostering until she heard the statistics about kids in foster care. Those statistics started conversations about how the couple would get involved. Two minutes in, she was crying, and Tim had quietly decided he was, too. Liz and Tim were in the process of becoming foster parents when at the memorial service for Liz's dad, they were deeply struck by the many tributes to his unconditional love. Liz shares, "My dad was a pastor, and he intentionally tried to love whoever was in front of him. Even the dry cleaner had something to say about Dad. The example of his love toward others reminded us of why we entered foster care - to plant seeds of love. We might not see the fruit of our labor, but we have faith that God will grow those seeds into a magnificent garden." February is a great time to show love to the foster or adoptive family you support. God showed his love by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might live through him (1 John 4:9). As our Father showed His great love in action, through Jesus, we too can say, “ I love you" through our actions! Try some of these fun and meaningful ways to say, “I love you!” For Parents
For a Child
It makes such a difference for foster and adoptive families to know they have a caring support team around them! Anytime is the perfect time to say "I love you" by doing something thoughtful to show your support! Plans can change but my love for them doesn’t, and the kids and bio mom know that. - Jeannie Lewis, Foster Mom for Teens ![]() After the residential facility that Jeannie Lewis directed closed, she and her husband, Russel, recently retired from law enforcement, knew they had to do something. There weren’t many local options for youth, especially teens with hard behaviors, so Jeannie and Russel decided they’d learn more about foster care. With the love and support of their four adult children, three years later, the Lewis family has fostered 7 children, one of whom they’ve adopted and a second with adoption in the near future. In our recent Q&A with foster parent Jeannie Lewis, she shares some of the trials and triumphs experienced while fostering teens and gives us a glimpse into the hope and heartache of reunification. Q: What led you to foster care? A: I was the director of a residential youth facility and many of the youth there had hard behaviors that made it challenging to step them down into foster families. The center closed, and I knew there wasn’t any place for these kids to go. My husband and I attended a Project 1.27 Info Night and we’ve been foster parents for three years. Q: What are some of the challenges you’ve experienced as a foster parent? A: Self care is key. Especially the first year. Plan respite. Plan breaks. Parenting is hard. Parenting teens is hard. You have to be careful you don’t get sucked into secondary trauma. Sometimes teens come into a foster home having experienced fourteen or fifteen years of trauma; that’s exponential. I have to check my own anxiety level to make sure I’m the level-headed one in the room. I’m the one who can self-regulate. ![]() January is a great time to make a resolution that will provide ongoing support, encouragement and care to the foster or adoptive family you serve. Resolve to pray for your family daily, check in with them regularly and offer a unique & COVID friendly gift of support every month of the coming year! Use our list or create one that fits the unique needs of the family you support! |
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